He runs a hand through his hair and turns back to me.“Kael—”
“Don’t,” I say.
“Don’t what?”
I meet his gaze hard, unblinking.“Don’t lie to me.”
He drops his eyes to the floor.
That’s answer enough.
Something shifts inside me.
Not fury.
Not betrayal.
Worse—
a sinking, bone-deep certainty that I missed something.
That I wasn’t there when she needed someone.
That Finn stepped into a gap I didn’t realize existed.
He clears his throat again.“Nothing happened.”
He means physically.
He means sexually.
He means the thing he thinks I’m worried about.
But that’s not what I’m asking.
“What did she tell you?”I say.
“Kael—”
“What did she say?”My voice is steel now.
He hesitates.
And that’s when I know:
Shedidopen up.
Not fully.
Not everything.
But something.
She let him in.
She let Finn in.
And she didn’t let me.
